Spring Time

I'm following my girlfriend Mindy's suggestion and writing about Spring.

"It's a time of renewal," she recently texted me. 

"Spring brings hope...The flowers...The sunshine...Planting seeds literally and figuratively...having the patience for them to sprout and grow, as opposed to our instant gratification tendencies."

This probably explains why I don't plant flowers.

Simply enchanting, however, her words were, and too uplifting not to share.

She went on to tell me one of her favorite memories:  that of shopping with her mom for a new spring coat and new white dress, when she was a very young girl.

This made me think long and hard about my own memories of Spring.

I came up with a recurring theme, albeit rather different from hers:   

Primary Election Day.

This "Day" always represented months and months of a very unique lifestyle as I grew up, with immeasurable effort leading up to the culmination, at which time the votes were cast.  Primaries in May narrow the field of candidates within political parties before Election Day, in November.

My family has always lived and breathed the electoral process.  For as long as I can remember, our home was the hub of campaign activity, where strategizing was the name of the game and where my mom essentially planned every step:  canvassing neighborhoods; speaking engagements; community events;  rallies; debates; the writing of brochures and letters to the editor; and whatever else she could conjure up.   

The goal was to reach every registered voter in as many ways as possible. If someone wasn't registered, the plan was to get them registered in time to vote.  Keep in mind that these were the days before Facebook, Twitter and mass email communications.

This year, Primary Day is on May 19, and as you probably know by now, my sister Sherrie Cohen is running for Council at-Large in Philadelphia.  She ran four years ago and ALMOST won. This time she will.  It will be exactly 10 years since my dad held one of the five (majority) at-Large seats (with two ear-marked for the minority party).

I have mostly watched Sherrie's race on Facebook and communicate with her through texting, and I am so grateful for the hundreds of volunteers who work  tirelessly for her day in and day out, weekend after weekend, to make sure they spread the word about a woman they truly believe can help to transform Philadelphia by bettering the lives of all Philadelphians.

There is nothing like a new face to bring a sense of renewal and hope.  No wonder Primary Days are slated for the spring.

I realized after talking with my girlfriend that it probably takes longer to run a campaign than to plant seeds and watch them grow into flowers. There is no such thing for the candidate (or the supporters) as instant gratification, either.

I say this with confidence, with lots of Primary Days under my belt.  If you add up all of them - Sherrie's 2, my brother Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Denis Cohen's  2 (10-year terms), my brother State Representative Mark Cohen's 20 (2-year terms) and my dad, the late Councilman David Cohen's 7 or 8 (4-year terms), we're at a GRAND TOTAL for all Cohen races upwards of 30 Primary Days... that's 30 Spring Seasons!  

You could grow a forest with all these seeds.

So even though I flew the coop at age 23 and have been relatively free to enjoy Spring in my own way ever since, my thoughts always turn to the Philadelphia races as we bid winter goodbye.